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Shooter to be charged with murder
crime scene house
The property of Richard Burton, who has been named a person of interest in the Tuesday morning shooting death on Daniel Siding Loop Road, sits quietly in the sun after investigators left the scene of the shooting next door. - photo by Julia Harison

Bryan County Sheriff Clyde Smith said the suspect in Tuesday's shooting south of Richmond Hill will be charged with murder.

Smith said charges against Robert Burton of the 1800 block of Daniel Siding Road will likely be filed today. Bryan County will not file other charges related to the police chase that ended in Long County, he said, though charges from other jurisdictions could follow.

Burton allegedly shot and killed William Haymans, 69, Tuesday morning after Haymans arrived to mow grass at a neighboring home. Haymans was found dead by sheriff's deputies, Smith said.

Later in the day, Walthourville police attempted to stop Burton for driving erratically, and he then allegedly led Liberty County deputies and Georgia State Patrol troopers on a chase Tuesday morning before surrendering in Long County.

"We know what happened, we just don't know why," Smith said Wednesday morning. "We just don't know what caused it. There was no confrontation between the two that we know of. There were no hard feelings between the two that we know of."

Burton is reportedly a veteran who was living in his truck and may have been suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

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